Season 2- Episode 2 - Ode to Flaco, the Owl

Ode to Flaco- magical, mystical citizen of NYC

Partial Transcript-

Flaco, the Eurasian eagle-owl, beloved citizen of NYC died sometime early Friday morning, on Feb 23rd.
The snow moon has just risen in the eerie early morning. The researchers from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation traced two unique lunar communication behaviors of the Eurasian Eagle Owl during each of the major phase of the moon: vocal communication and visual communication. During the full moon the Eurasian Eagle Owl is turned on by moonlight. The brighter the moon, the more frequent the calls. But along with the owls' vocalizations is the moon’s affect on the owls’ visual communication.The study is one of the few that have looked at intraspecies communication of nocturnal birds and the findings provide further evidence lunar cycles affect the behaviors of animal species.

I choose to think that this celibate, monk-like bird was responding to his palpitating heart for his beloved owl mate. eagle owls communicate similarly at dusk and at dawn to when the moon is full, and suggest that this is because the amount of ambient light at dusk and dawn are about the same as a moonlit night.... shedding the aura of romantic hues this majestic creature was longing for the company of his mate. Eagle owls have white patches of soft feathers under their beaks that they show only when vocalizing. So, as the moon gets brighter, and the eagle owls are calling to their mates more frequently, so do these owls climb to higher perches where they can be more easily spotted. A grand freedom year to date, the Moon brilliantly relecting in the high perches of glass windows, Flaco obeying his avian instinct must have flown into his own reflection made bright by the vision of moon. He reached not the open skies, nor the enbrace of his beloved girl-owl but a crushing barbarism, crashing to his death. His spirit released, he is soaring in the high ethers alongside his proud ancestors, and perhaps there his spirit has already enjoined his beloved mate.

His radical journey from captivity at the Central Part Zoo - from the time he was a fledgeling 13 years ago, to his absolute freedom on the historic day of Feb 2, 2023 when his cage was cut open, demands our reverential awe. Falco took his maiden flight to freedom and was never captured again until he laid down, body vanquished, spirit risen on the cold concrete slab at 89St on CPW. Flaco's momentous act of freedom has split open each one of our hearts. Owls are known to never follow the herd, they live independently, cherishing their own company, the ooutlier of the avian species.

The freedom seeker, Flaco is a magical, mystical New York story. He is helping every disciples to reveal our own back story. Like every act of martyrdom in deeply troubled times, Flaco's plunge to certain death instills a reverence for the lifeforce, diminishing the fears we carry around toxic urban disease, death and dying. My own